Friendly Favor
by anonymousdani
Summary: Austin is the popular boy at Marino High. Ally is the dorky new girl with a rough past. Austin has just gone through a breakup with Brooke and wants her back. In hopes to win her over once more, he gets Ally involved in a fake relationship to make Brooke jealous. What could go wrong... right? Just the fact that in these situations they always end up falling in love.
1. Chapter 1

Moving from Los Angeles to Miami was not something at the top of my bucket list. After all, I had lived in LA my entire life. All of my friends and family were there and not to mention… My dad.

You know that shitty moment when parents begin to disagree so much they eventually begin fighting and and screaming and walking out of the house in the middle of the night? Well, that's my life.

It all started about six months ago. I guess from what my mom told me, her and my father had been fighting for months before that but kept it on low radar for my sake. They fought about little, stupid things first. The bills, who needs to do the dishes, blah blah blah. Then it got more intense. They fought about harsh things. I'd sit in my bedroom and listen to it sometimes. They'd fight about how if my mom never got pregnant my dad would have left her. Like I said, harsh. I ignored it because I figured it was the heat of the moment. They were just mad and they'd kiss and make up later, I'd tell myself they didn't mean it. Turns out, I wasn't that smart despite my straight A's in school.

* * *

I hate cheaters. Always have, always will. I mean, if you can cheat on someone that obviously means you're done. If you have the heart to cheat on the person you're with knowing what a betrayal it is and how hurt they'll be;

1\. You don't have much of a heart at all.  
2\. You can't possibly be in love with them anymore.

So back to the point. Don't cheat. If you're considering it and want to do it, end your current relationship. Save someone the heartbreak it'll lead to. Don't make that person constantly hate themselves wondering what they could have done to make you more interested, to wonder what she had that they didn't. Just don't. You get my point now, right? Cheaters, their scum on the bottom of my shoe. Awful people.

My dad cheated on my mom. It made me hate him. How could he do something like that to hurt her? When he married her he made a lifelong commitment that he would love her in the bad times and the good, in sickness and in health. He promised. What made it worse was he wasn't even man enough to tell her. That idiot gave his mistress the house phone number in case of emergencies. When he didn't answer his cell phone while he was in the shower, she called the house.

My mom answered to the girl trying to persuade my dad to swing by. She informed the girl that it was his wife, Penny, not my dad, Lester. The girl hung up immediately without another word. When my dad got out of the shower my mom had already packed a bag. She told him she was leaving him and asked if he had anything to say for himself. He stared at her wide eyed for a moment before clearing his throat. The last thing my father ever said to my mom was "You don't make me happy anymore. She does."

* * *

I was asleep when my mom came to get me. It was 3 in the morning and I had school the next day. She turned on the light and began throwing stuff into a suitcase for me. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Mom? What the hell are you doing?"

She ignored me. Still to this day I don't know if she was ignoring me, didn't hear me, or didn't know at the moment. She continued to throw stuff in. She stormed into my bathroom and began grabbing things from there. I blankly watched her. My dad watched from my bedroom door.

"Dad?" I asked. He looked at me with a guilty expression. "Why is mom doing this?"

He hesitated before speaking. "Your mother is leaving me. I think she is taking you with her."

* * *

We stayed in a hotel for a few nights. I don't think my mom knew what to do. I wanted to stay with my best friend Cassidy. I was heartbroken that my parents were leaving each other and I was even more heartbroken that my dad cheated. My life suddenly made no sense to me.

Eventually my mom moved us in with her best friend from middle school, Debbie. I loved Debbie. She was practically my aunt. We stayed with her for the total of about a month. It was fun. I continued to go to school while my mom worked during the day. When we came home we'd always do something fun like have a girl's night in doing pedicures or we'd go out for dinner and a movie. I'm not sure if my mom was trying to distract herself from the divorce or me. Maybe it was both.

In the middle of that month we spent at Debbie's, my mom confessed to me that she had been talking to this guy she used to date. His name was Tom and he was a year older than her. They were the "it-couple" in high school. High school sweethearts. He lived in Miami which is where my mom grew up. I guess this guy was loaded. He worked for a huge worldwide company and he worked at the head of it.

My mom told me old stories about dating him and told me when we figured out where we were going to permanently live she would show me pictures after she shipped the rest of our stuff in.

* * *

Every night Tom and my mom would FaceTime on her laptop. She introduced me so every night I'd poke my head in and say hi to him.

He was a funny guy and really easy to talk to. He had this fatherly vibe and spoke in a soft voice. Besides the times I would poke in, I didn't really know what they talked about at the time. I overheard my mom telling Tom about the divorce and he told her he had a divorce two years ago.

He was married to a woman for 5 years and after about 3 years of marriage his wife got pregnant. They had a son together named Parker who is now 4 years old. Tom and his wife ended up getting a divorce because their marriage wasn't working anymore. Chanel took Parker and Tom hasn't seen him since. He doesn't even know where they are. He tried to go to court and get custody of him but the court appealed for Chanel.

As the month continued they carried on sharing stories of what has happened since high school. Eventually my mom and Tom decided to make plans to meet up. He was going to fly all the way out to LA just to spend the weekend with us.

He came out and it was fun. Debbie spent the weekend at her boyfriend's house so my mom slept in Debbie's room and Tom slept in my mom's room. We went out to fancy restaurants and he paid for us despite our protests. He took my mother shopping to get a fancy dress, heels, and jewelry to match and took her out to dinner and a movie. I could tell when Tom came out that they really liked each other.

I even suspected they were dating but kept my mouth shut until I was sure. That night when my mom came home Tom went to bed and my mom crept into my room. She closed the door and said she wanted to talk with me.

She told me her and Tom began dating after a week of them talking. He made plans to come out here so they could see if they still had that connection they did in high school. They did.

Tom asked my mom at dinner if my mom and I would move to Miami with him. I could enroll in the high school they went to, my mom wouldn't have to work and could stay home, and we could all be a family together.

I wanted to protest. Although I wasn't speaking to my dad, and I didn't think I ever would again, I still didn't know if I was okay with my mom moving on yet. Especially moving on with me. I mean, was I even ready? Do I really know Tom that well? I looked up to meet her gaze and I noticed something. My mom looked happy. For the first time in a very, very long time my mom looked genuinely happy.

I pondered the situation once more and decided that if my mom finally found something that made her happy, it made me happy too. I told her I was in 100%. When she left my room I couldn't help but feel sad. My entire side of the family lives in California and everything I've ever known is here. We've lived in the same house since I was a baby, all of my friends are here, and I had to move on from that.

I shoved all those thoughts out of my head and went to sleep. I needed to make this work for my mom. If I was going to do that, I had to give the situation the most positive outlook I could.

* * *

We were completely moved in at Tom's house by the next weekend. I thought it would be longer. I mean, the last month was incredibly hectic. My mom left my dad, we stayed with Debbie, and now we moved in with my mom's boyfriend? Crazy. Although, I was wrong. Even though I was trying the whole positive outlook thing, I was _positive_ I would hate Miami. I mean, its humid, there are gators, and swamps. Should I need to continue?

However, it was the complete opposite. Tom bought a baby blue painted beach house. It was literally a 35 foot walk to the beach from the house. The beach was clean and beautiful, not a swamp. There were pelicans and dolphins, not gators. However, I was right about the humidity. I'll adapt to it though. My room was huge. Probably the size of the kitchen in the last house. The walls were painted a cream color and there was a beautiful glass chandelier hanging in the middle of the ceiling. And the best part? I had a balcony that overlooked the beach. It was insane.

Tom bought me all new furniture. I protested at first because I had furniture at my dad's house. Tom didn't want me to have mismatched furniture that my dad bought from different Goodwill's across LA. He told me it would be a favor to him. So I let him. My room was absolutely perfect. It looked like the type of room that you saved on your Pinterest under the board "dream home."

Tom didn't lie about my mom not working either. He had her quit her job and told her she could be a stay at home mom. My mom always wanted to do that but my dad could never afford it on his income alone so she had to work. She was going to cook and clean. Sadly, my mom is not a very good cook. Because of this, Tom enlisted her in cooking classes. That was how she would occupy her time during the mornings. She also signed up for yoga to release stress and tension. Then she enrolled in a book club at our local library. My mom loves literature and always told me when I was little she dreamed of publishing a book one day.

Everything was going great. It was summertime at this point. I had finished school before we moved so I wouldn't have to start for another couple of months. I was going to go to a high school a couple blocks away from my house called Marino High. I was excited to make friends but nervous at the same time. I wasn't incredibly social. However, Marino was supposedly the top school in Florida so it would look great on my transcripts when I apply to college next year.

Over the summer I just spent time with Tom and my mom. We got to know each other more and we did a lot of family bonding activities. He would take us to do fun things like indoor rock climbing, to the waterpark, and one weekend we drove all the way down to go to DisneyWorld. It was a great summer. Before I knew it, it was the day before school started. This is where things got messy.

* * *

**Hey everyone! If you just read the update I did for the story I just want to say thank you so much! When I went back a reread the story from the beginning I realized I hated it so I wanted to redo it instead of taking it down because I know a lot of you really like this story! Let me know what you think in the reviews. (:**


	2. Chapter 2

I had a hard time sleeping that night. I was so nervous and excited for school and I laid awake thinking about everything that could happen. All the new people I would meet, all the new experiences I have have. It was going to be awesome.

I got a few hours in eventually and woke up early the next morning. I went through my routine of getting ready (I won't bore you with the details). I then went downstairs and was going to make myself breakfast. That plan was stopped when I found my mom doing it for me. She turned and looked at me with a bright smile on her face.

"Good morning, Ally! How did you sleep?"

I looked at her strangely. She seemed very happy for a woman whisking eggs and sizzling bacon.

"Good morning, mom. I slept fine. What about you? How early did you get up to do this? It must've been a while…" I stated while glancing at about 20 egg shells in the trash that she probably screwed up before I got downstairs.

She followed my eyes to the trash. "Oh, right. That. Right now in my cooking classes we're working on cooking eggs but I only know how to do scrambled. I kept attempting sunny-side up but it wasn't feeling it today."

I chuckled at her. "Well I'm glad you're at least attempting to make it work. You seem to like cooking class."

She smiled to herself. "I do. It's very fun. You should come sometime."

"Mom, you're burning the eggs."

"Oh shoot!" She exclaimed as she turned around and began flipping them and reducing the heat on the stove. Tom came down and smelled around the kitchen. An unpleasant look settled on his face when he smelled the burning egg smell. My mom turned around to greet him and he immediately smiled a big fake smile.

"Breakfast smells great, honey. Doesn't it Ally?" I give a reassuring look to my mom. When she turns around to get back to cooking me and Tom look at each other and shake our heads.

"Thanks guys! And to think I'll be better than this soon! How crazy."

"Yeah… Crazy alright." I mumble. I look at the time and realize I have to be in school in 45 minutes.

"I'm going to go upstairs and get my stuff together for school."

I run upstairs and get my backpack. I make sure I have my phone, car keys, and necessities for school. I put everything in my backpack except for my phone which I put in the back pocket of my jeans and head back downstairs. I leave my backpack by the door.

I sit against the counter watching my mom try desperately to save the already brown and burned eggs.

"Hey mom, you know what? Tom and I don't even really like eggs anyways. Why don't you and Tom go pick something up together real quick before his meeting and I'll swing by somewhere on my way to school?"

She looked at me with relief. "Okay, that's fine."

Tom looked relieved too. I got my car keys and grabbed my backpack. I got in my car and decided to just get a bagel and iced coffee from Starbucks. Afterwards I head to school.

I get there about 10 minutes early and take that as an opportunity to head to the office to get a map of the school and my schedule. I tell the lady at the office that I'm a new student and my name. She gives me the papers.

I walk out of the door concentrated on the schedule and room numbers. When I open the door I walk right into someone. I drop my papers and car keys on the floor.

"Damnit." I mumble. I bend down to gather everything together. The person does too. They hand everything to me and I look up to apologize and realize I am face to face with one of the most attractive boys I have ever seen in my life. I forget how to speak for a moment. He smiles and brushes his blonde hair out of his eyes.

"Sorry about that." He says coolly. I suddenly recompose myself.

"Oh no don't be. It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention." I smile.

"I'm Austin. Are you new here?"

"I'm Ally. Yeah I am actually. I just moved here a couple months ago."

"That's sweet. I thought I hadn't seen your face before. Where'd you move from?" He looks interested.

"LA."

"Lucky you. I plan to move there after high school."

"Yeah, I loved it there. You probably will too." Suddenly the bell rings. I smile at him and walk away without another word.

I head toward the building my first class is in. I step into my classroom and head to a seat in the front. I sit down and take out my calendar notebook, a composition book, and a pen. It doesn't take long before the entire class is filled and the teacher begins the introductions of herself.

That was the routine all morning long. Every single class was just the boring introductions of the teachers and their syllabus. Thankfully I'm a senior so I only have a half day every day. I give myself a mental pat on the back for making it through the day. The only disappointment?

I never made friends. All day we just sat there listening to the teacher talk and there is no lunch so I wasn't able to socialize. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

I make my way to my car. I unlock it and sit in the front seat for a moment. I left the door open because a light breeze picked up. I look at my phone to see my best friend from LA, Cassidy, texted me.

All of a sudden I hear yelling. I look to my left and notice the blonde boy from this morning is sitting against a car (I'm presuming it's his) having what appears to be an argument with a girl. I notice she's pretty. She has long wavy brown hair, brown eyes, plus she is tall and skinny. She is wearing a cheerleading uniform which means she has to get to practice soon.

I gather her name is Brooke. I gather they broke up. She accused him of not being there for her and said the relationship wasn't working. I decide it's none of my business and that I should leave before they catch me eavesdropping. I close my car door, turn the car on, and pull out.

When I get home my mom is making a Caesar salad. I'm guessing it's for our lunch. I have her sign all of the syllabus' immediately so I don't have to worry about it the rest of the week. I then head to my room. I try to think of what I want to do.

I could play my piano for a while, I could watch Netflix, or I could sit on my balcony and listen to music. That it is! I grab my headphones and step onto the balcony. I sit down on a chair I have out there and listen to my music. It relaxes me and makes me forget about the fact that right now I could be at my school in LA with Cassidy and I would still be moping about how Gavin broke up with me and we'd go out and get mani pedis like we did every year on the first day of school. I text her back finally.

_Hey Alls. Missing you a little extra today. Sad we can't continue our tradition anymore. ): Love you. Cass._

_Hey Cass. Go get a mani pedi anyways. Even if I'm not there. It's still our tradition, we just can't do it together this year. We'll do it next year when we're in New York for college. Get something I would get so it's like I'm there with you. Love you, miss you. Alls._

I sigh and focus on the music. I sit there for a while watching the waves.


	3. Chapter 3

**Just wanna remind all of you that you're awesome and I appreciate that you read my story.**

* * *

I lose track of how much time I had been sitting out on the balcony for. I listened to almost an entire album so I gather it was long enough. I stand and stretch then take a deep breath. I can't imagine myself ever getting tired of this view. I turn and walk back into my room and shut the balcony doors. I sit on my bed as I try to decide what to do next.

I'm not in the mood for playing piano or Netflix. I decide I'm in a bummed mood because I miss my old school and all of my friends. Speaking of my LA life, I wonder how all of them are doing? It was their first day of school today too.

I pull up Instagram on my phone and type in Cassidy's account first. She has a new picture from today of all of my old friends from LA standing along a wall of the school with their arms wrapped around each other. I double tap the picture.

I move on to start stalking each of the girls in the picture. Tilly, Kimmy, and a new girl named Madison. There isn't much to see considering all they do is post about their Starbucks drinks and boyfriends.

I hesitate a moment before typing in the next username. When the page pulls up I scold myself for doing this. I'm just going to get my feelings hurt. I push those feelings aside and begin to look through every picture and comment he has. I hadn't been on Instagram in a while, and I've especially avoided his account. I had to know how he was doing though. Even though he broke my heart, I'll always love and care about him. He just had a really hard life and doesn't know how to deal with emotions and feelings he has.

He hasn't posted much in the 3 months it's been since he dumped me. He posted a selfie of himself. He looked better. Not necessarily happier, but he looked a bit more cleaned up and the blank expression on his face didn't hold a frown or angry eyes like it always had before. I decide I feel happy for him. I hope that life is getting better, easier for him. I close out of his account and check mine.

I had 2 new followers, they were from my old school. I had done cheerleading with them. I follow them back and look at my pictures. My account consisted of pictures of my mom, dad, and I, my friends, my dog Velvet whom my dad kept in the divorce, and a couple selfies of me. I go through and delete my selfies, and any pictures that had my dad in them. I delete the picture of Velvet. Even though I love her I'm not a very good photographer and I had no reason to post the picture of her.

I click on a picture I had taken with him. We had taken it on a good day when he wasn't mad at the world and himself. When he convinced me to ditch school that day with him so we could go hiking and swim up in the lake and have a picnic under a huge tree. It was our spot. He had shown it to me when we first met, before we even started dating. It was where he'd go when he wanted to escape the world for a while. He wanted to share it with me. I had gotten grounded and yelled at by my parents when I got home that night. I remember not even caring because he had been so happy that day and I'd get in trouble a thousand times just to be able to make him happy like that once more.

Before I can think it through I press the trash icon to delete the picture. The warning message appears that asks if I'm sure I want to delete it. My finger hovers over yes for a few moments before grief and sadness washes over me and I press no instead. I'm not ready to let go of that memory yet. All of a sudden the front door opens signaling that Tom is home. That means that dinner will be ready soon. I step into my bathroom and begin carefully wiping the tears from my eyes, trying not to mess up my mascara. I don't want anyone knowing that I was crying, especially what I was crying over. Voices fill downstairs. More than two voices, and unfamiliar ones at that.

We have guests over. Damnit. I hate when people come over to the house without my knowledge. I'll just stay up in my room for as long as I can so hopefully by the time I go downstairs they'll be gone.

"Ally!" Well, there goes my plan. "Come down here and meet our neighbors, honey." I let out a groan and check my appearance one more time. I can barely tell I was crying. My eyes are a little glossy and my cheeks are slightly flushed and red but other than that I look normal.

* * *

I go downstairs and walk into the kitchen where everyone is. I meet the gaze of the man first. He is tall and has brown greying hair. His eyes are a deep brown and he is wearing a suit. He extends his hand to me in a friendly gesture. I take it in my own and we shake hands.

"Hello, I'm Mike." His voice sounds like one of a TV anchor but he seems kind all around.

"Hi, I'm Ally. Nice to meet you." I say and plaster a fake smile on my face. I'm so not in the mood for socializing right now.

"The pleasure is all mine." He replies as our hands finally break contact.

My eyes shift from his to another set of brown eyes. These ones are familiar. The blonde boy from the office stands before me in my kitchen. I become slightly uncomfortable and pray that he can't tell I've been crying with the way he's studying my face. His lips slightly curve upward in a casual smile and he shoves his hands in the pockets of his black jeans.

"We met earlier this morning, right?" He asks me in a mellow, casual tone.

"Yeah, in front of the office. Sorry about that again." I grow slightly more uncomfortable and hold my hands together behind my back. I just want him to stop looking at me. My mother raises her eyebrow and Tom speaks up before he can reply.

"You two know each other?"

"I guess you could say that. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going this morning and I accidentally ran into him." Tom looks at the blonde for confirmation and he nods. For the life of me I cannot remember his name. Tom just nods and a thoughtful smile rests on his face.

"Well that's great! I'm glad you two have already been acquainted." I don't really know what to say so I just give a small smile and nod then focus my attention on my feet. Mike speaks up.

"I apologize that Mimi isn't here at the moment. She made a quick last minute trip to the farmer's market to grab some things for dinner. She would've loved to meet you, Penny. She stays at home also and I think she gets lonely some days. I think it'd be nice for her to have a friend like you to be able to have coffee with or just to talk to, y'know?"

My mom gives him a warm smile and nod. "I know exactly how she feels. I mean today was Ally's first day and although I love staying home I can see myself getting lonely being home by myself. Especially when she starts making friends. She doesn't have any right –"

"_Mom_!" I exclaim, suddenly feeling very embarrassed. "I _have_ friends."

"Yes, sweetie. Back in LA."

"Nonsense! Ally has Austin. You guys are friends, right Austin?" Mike says encouragingly as he pats Austin on the shoulder. So _that's_ what his name was. _Austin_ I try out in my head. It does suit him.

"Sure." He replies a bit uncomfortably. This is absolutely horrifying. I bow my head in embarrassment and rub my forehead with my hand in an effort to distract myself from this.

"Well, as much fun as this is. I have to finish going over some more school stuff for today so I should really head back up to my room." I say in the nicest way I can while backing up towards the stairs. My mom looks displeased and Tom looks clueless as him and Mike carry on a conversation about how Mike and Mimi should come over for dinner sometime.

"Hey, uh Ally? Would you mind showing me to the bathroom up there?" Austin looks like he'd rather be anywhere but that kitchen at the moment and the way Mike and Tom were chatting, he wouldn't be going home anytime soon.

"Of course." I smile at him. I turn around and start walking up the stairs. He's right behind me.

"I don't know if you were actually serious about the whole bathroom thing or if you just wanted an excuse to leave but just in case, it's at the very end of the hall." I say when we reach the top of the stairs and nobody can hear us. I begin to walk away when his voice stops me.

"Eh, I'd rather see your room." My cheeks instantly flush. I let out a shaky inaudible breath and chuckle lightly.

"In that case, right this way."

He follows me into my room and closes the door behind him. Why did he close the door? I decided not to question him about it. He seems innocent enough. I sit on my bed and he studies everything in my room.

"You know," he starts. "you can tell a lot about a person by their room."

"Can you now?" I ask while tilting my head to the side.

"Yeah. I'm learning all kinds of things about you as we speak."

"Hmm. Like what, exactly?"

"Well. I can tell that you're a clean freak because literally everything about your room is perfect. Except for that pile of clothes over there." He gestures towards the corner of my room that has a stack of clean clothes all sitting in an unorganized bundle.

"You don't know why I do that."

"Enlighten me." He says with a smirk as he shifts onto his right leg and crosses his arms in a gesture I can only describe as cocky.

"If you must know, it's because I have this routine that I do and in order for it to work properly the clothes have to be like that." He raises his eyebrows in a way to encourage me to continue. I sigh and rub my hands against my jeans. They were getting sweaty. "Every night I fold the clothes into piles before I go to sleep. Then, in the morning I go through and pick out what I want to wear and that kinda destroys the neat piles so they look like that." I gesture towards the clothes. "Then when I get home I get to do it all over again. It relieves a lot of stress."

"That's insane." He laughs. It isn't taunting or mean, just casual.

"It is not." I defend myself while laughing along.

"How could you possibly find that stress relieving? Laundry sucks!"

"Hey, don't judge my habits and I won't judge yours."

"You don't know my habits." He points out with a smile.

"Touché."

"I can also tell that you're into music. And not just a 'I like One Direction music and go to their concerts' kind of interest. A serious one."

"Hey! Don't pick on One Direction. I'm a fan." I tease, even though it's true. He holds his hands up in mock surrender before re-crossing them on his chest and stepping towards my keyboard.

"How long have you played for?" He asks as his fingers brush against the keys.

"13 years." He looks impressed as he turns to speak to me.

"You have me beat by 5 years. I learned when I was 9." It was my turn to be impressed.''

"You're into music?" Suddenly I'm very interested in this blonde-headed boy with girlfriend problems.

"Totally. It's my passion. I sing, dance, and can play quite a few instruments. I wanna go to U-of-SC."

"The University of Southern California. Which is why you want to move to LA when you graduate." It all makes sense.

"Exactly."

"Very ambitious. I'm impressed."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What are your plans for after high school? What are your dreams, goals, ambitions?" He jokes the last part. I chuckle before replying.

"MUNY."

"M-U-N- What?" He asks.

"MUNY. The Music University of New York. It's my dream to go there."

"It's my turn to be impressed. New York is very ambitious of you."

"What can I say? I've got big dreams." I smile.

"I like that in a person. Someone with goals and plans in their life."

"Me too." I agree.

"You know, Ally. You're pretty cool for someone with no friends."

"Ugh." I groan covering my face with my hands. "I can't _believe_ my mom said that. She made me sound like such a loser." I can feel the heat rushing to my cheeks.

"Don't be embarrassed. My dad does it all the time. He has this very un-humorous way of making everything awkward." He says. I can hear the frown in his voice. I look up and sure enough, his hands are clenched at his sides and a deep frown is set on his face.

"Touchy subject?" I try.

"I guess. Me and my dad don't get along very well, despite how he tries to display us to other people." I nod in understanding.

"If it makes you feel better, I'm the same with my dad." I offer to him. His angry eyes meet mine and they become sympathetic.

"That doesn't make me feel better. That sucks. Dad's suck." He says.

"Can't argue with that one." A deep voice echoes from the kitchen calling for Austin to get ready to go.

"Speak of the devil." He grumbles. "You aren't bad company, Ally. Thanks for the talk."

"You aren't so bad yourself, blondie. Feel free to talk to me whenever you want."

"I might just take you up on that." He says sincerely before he turns to open my bedroom door. He looks behind his shoulder to look at me before saying,

"See you at school tomorrow. Try not to bump into me again, bright eyes." His tone is playful and I flush at the nickname he gave me. Maybe I really did make a friend after all.

* * *

**So what do you guys think? Do you like the new story so far? I have so many great ideas and I'm really excited to see where this story takes me. I'd really appreciate it if you left a review to let me know what you think! Thanks everyone. (:**


	4. Chapter 4

When I wake up the next morning I can't help but feel a little bit more calm than I did yesterday. Having that talk with Austin made me a lot more comfortable and it felt nice to know that if all else failed there was someone at the school that didn't think I was a total loser and would talk to me.

I did my normal boring morning routine. Shower, makeup, hair, blah blah blah. As I stood in front of my floor length mirror adjusting my skinny jeans and t-shirt the smell of food filled my nose. And it didn't smell burnt… That's odd.

I make my way downstairs and find my mom standing in the kitchen cooking yet again.

"Hey mom." I greet while trying to get a look at what she was making.

"Good morning, Ally. I hope you're hungry!" I smile and nod at her.

"I'm starving. What are you making?"

"Pancakes! Turns out pancakes are a lot easier to make than eggs. _And_ I also made some oatmeal. I'm not confident enough to make meats yet so for now stuff like this will have to do."

"I'm proud mom. Besides, pancakes and oatmeal sound way more appetizing than eggs and sausage." I grab a plate and put a couple pancakes on it. Surprisingly they weren't burnt. I also put a small amount of oatmeal in a bowl and pour some coffee in a mug. It tasted really good and it was nice to eat a meal at home for once. My mom tried making some kind of pasta last night but ended up screwing it up somehow so we just ordered some pizza.

When I finish my breakfast I go back upstairs to brush my teeth and then I grab my backpack, keys, and phone. I head out to my car and drive to school. When I arrive I'm about 15 minutes early so I decide to try to find my locker to get my stuff in it since I didn't get to my first day. I eventually find it after a couple minutes of searching and enter in my combo. It opens and I start laying my things in there neatly. Now I get to carry even less stuff between classes.

After I have everything organized the way I want it I close my locker door and start to walk down the hallway. I notice a bulletin board that has some papers on it. Since I have some free time before I have to head to class I start to look at the options. They have things like lists to sign up for football, the reading club, gay straight alliance club, glee club, and tons of other clubs every school has.

The one that catches my eye is the sign up list for cheerleading tryouts on Friday. I did cheerleading at my old school and loved it. I work well with others, I'm flexible, comfortable enough to be a flyer, and it'd be a great way to make some friends. I sign my name along with a long list of other girls.

I consider signing up for glee club as well but I have a problem with singing in front of large crowds. It freaks me out. I'd much rather be in choir where you sing with a group of people and don't have to stick out individually. However, I didn't sign up for choir because a lot of the music they pick to perform is lame. I like singing music that helps you express yourself and singing catchy music that I actually like. I drop the pen that is tied to the board with yard and then step back, proud of myself for making an effort to get out there more.

Just then I'm dragged out of my thoughts by a voice speaking to me.

"So, you're signing up for cheer, huh?" I turn behind me to find a latina girl much shorter than me, and that's saying something. I smile and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Yeah, I did cheer at my last school. I'm new here so I thought it'd give me something to do and it'd help me make friends."

"Cool. I'm Trish. I've been on the cheerleading squad since Freshman year. Are you any good?"

"I'd say so. I was the flyer at my old school and I took gymnastics for 6 years. Are the girls on the team nice?"

"Great. You'll probably make it. Most are. There are a few that can get annoying and get caught up in the drama but as long as you're careful you won't have any issues. Most of them are cool."

"That's a relief. I mean, it's only my second day but I was starting to worry I wouldn't make any friends." I laugh. She smiles before standing next to me as we walk down the hallway.

"Aw bullshit! We can be friends. I'll introduce you to some of my friends too. After you get settled in your classes and we start getting projects people will become more social. High school is pretty cliquey in general but kids at Marino are a lot nicer than kids can be at other schools. You'll fit in fine, don't worry."

"Thanks. You have no idea how much better that just made me feel." She smiles.

"I know what it's like to not be accepted by people all the time. Kids can be mean. Don't worry, chica. I got your back." She pulls her phone out of her back pocket. "Here, why don't you give me your number. Maybe sometime this week we can get together to help you practice for cheer tryouts?"

"Yeah, I'd love that! Thanks, Trish." I smile warmly at her as I type in my name and number in her contacts list. I hand her phone back to her and she promises she will text me later so I'll have her number.

The bell then rings and we separate to go to classes. During my second hour she finally texts me just to inform me it's her and I save her number. School gets out a couple hours later and so I drive home. I had homework today. In a couple different classes, we had to do projects about helping the teachers get to know us.

It didn't take more than a couple hours to finish all of them. I am bored out of my mind and don't know what to do. I figured Trish probably already had plans today since school had been out for a couple of hours. I decide I'm going to make the most of living on the beach and take a walk. I change into some cotton shorts and flip flops then head out to the beach from the backyard gate.

There is a group of extremely attractive shirtless boys playing volleyball and as I walk along the beach I do not pass up the opportunity to stare. I loved having a boyfriend. I'm not boy crazy or anything, I just genuinely enjoy having the company of a boyfriend. I enjoy the fun adventures you can go on with them, the dates, the late night phone calls that make you smile for hours, the cuddling, everything.

I had dated Gavin for 2 years. Our relationship probably wasn't the best example to use for this. He had his good days where we would be able to do all of those things. He'd be affectionate and want to kiss me and cuddle me every chance he got. But he had more bad days than good. Gavin suffered from really bad depression for years. He was this really broken boy and he would do anything to just not feel anything. He did a lot of drugs when we were together, he always was trying to convince me to go to parties so he could share off of other people's drugs and have free alcohol and just let loose. But it just wasn't me.

But I was in love with him. I literally lived for that boy. So if he went to a party, so did I. It didn't necessarily mean I'd do drugs or drink the alcohol. Drugs weren't my thing. I tried them a couple times (really just weed) and it made me feel all weird and tired and lazy and it just wasn't for me. Sometimes I'd have a drink or two but never enough to get drunk. I was the one who'd have to drive both of us home from those parties. I only went to be with him. If going to the party was the only way I could hang out with him for a night then I'd go.

He had a shitty life growing up. His dad was an alcoholic and used to beat his mom up. One day he just didn't come home. Then that day turned into a few days. They thought that he just walked out and left them. But after about a week some police officers showed up at his house and informed his mom that his dad had died of a drug overdose and they found his body hidden behind a dumpster in an alley.

He was never close with his dad, he actually hated him so the death wasn't really hard on him. It was just the fact that his dad was such a loser and he really had this strong belief that he was going to get his act together and be better for them. Start to take care of them. I think when his dad died that child in him kind of did too.

His mom had to work two jobs in order to be able to support them. They lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in a crappy complex. The day he turned fifteen he got a job at a grocery store as a bagger because that was the only place that would hire him at his age. His mom started seeing guys that would stay at the house and treat her and Gavin like crap. Some of them were real assholes and they'd beat him if they got drunk enough. Gavin's life just sucked in general.

I had known Gavin since eighth grade. We knew each other for about half of the year but never really talked. My friends were the girly girls that wanted to go to movies and concerts and hang out at the mall and him and his friends were all the "bad boys." They were the kids that would punch the boys that started fights with them. They were the kids that would sneak onto the school campus at night and graffiti the wall with spray paint. And that terrified me. But also kind of excited me.

One day my friends informed me that our group was going to hang out at one of the boys' houses with his friend group. I wasn't allowed to hang out with boys, especially not at their houses. Which meant I would be breaking so many rules. I was not a rule breaker back then. However, Kimmy had the biggest crush on Logan, one of Gavin's friends and was too scared to hang out with him unless we were all there with her. So in spirit of being a good friend, I went.

They were actually all really nice and pretty cool. They hadn't pressured us into doing anything we didn't want to do. Things got kind of awkward pretty fast though and we couldn't think of anything fun or cool enough to do. So, one of the guys suggested we play spin the bottle. Sure, I had kissed a couple guys before and it wasn't new territory. That didn't mean I was all for it. They had been guys I'd dated or had a crush on. I'd never kissed a boy just to kiss him before so I was nervous as hell. But Kimmy thought it was a great idea and all of the other girls followed her lead so I did too.

When we first started playing it was just a peck when it would land on one of us. I'd gotten lucky and the bottle hadn't landed on me yet. Then, after about 10 minutes of playing Kimmy decided to try to show off and suggested that we should turn it into 7 minutes in heaven. So of course it was the universe playing against me when Gavin spun the bottle and it landed on me. I think he could tell that I was nervous and freaking out. When we went to go in the closet to make out he leaned against the door and I just kind of stood there watching him nervously.

We heard Cassidy call out they were starting the timer which signaled that we were gonna have to kiss.

"You've never done this before, have you?" He had asked me. A playful smirk rested on his lips and he watched me trying to study my reaction.

"If you're asking if I've ever played 7 minutes in heaven, then no. I haven't. I'm not even supposed to be here, I lied to my parents and said that me and Cassidy were going to the mall." I began to ramble. His smirk turned into a smile and he raised his eyebrow at me.

"Then why are you here?"

"Because I-" I paused. I couldn't tell him that Kimmy liked Logan. He was friends with Logan and surely he'd tell him and then Kimmy would hate me.

"You… What?"

"I can't tell you." I said dumbly. He chuckled before answering.

"Don't worry, Dawson. I won't tell anybody. I'm not an asshole." I let out a sigh before giving up.

"You can't tell anyone! Seriously my friends would kill me and the last thing I need is drama. But… Kimmy really likes Logan and wants to impress him but she was too scared to be alone with him so she made me come with the girls."

"Tell you what, Dawson. I'm not going to make you make out with me in here because I can tell you're a good girl and I'm not going to try to change that. It's cute. We'll just tell everyone that we did. When this is over, how about I walk you home? Maybe we can stop by the ice-cream place and I'll buy you some if you want?"

I was shocked to say the least. Here I was, in a closet at a boy's house, supposed to be macking it up with a bad boy. But yet here he was, feeling sympathetic for me and offering to buy me ice-cream and walk me home.

"I'd like that." I said softly. I don't know if I was feeling confident or if I felt close to him or what. But I'd walked up to him and wrapped my arms securely around his neck and gave him a soft, gentle kiss. He returned it, not trying to deepen it, not trying to rush it. After a few seconds I pulled back and noticed he'd rested his hands on my hips.

"What was that for?" He'd asked.

"I didn't want to make you a complete liar. We may not have made out for the full seven minutes but we did kiss." I shrugged and stepped back away from him. He licked his lips and stared at me thoughtfully before Cassidy called out that the seven minutes were over and that we could come out. He kept his promise and we went to the ice-cream shop and talked for a while before he took me home.

After that we started talking every day and became best friends. We'd started dating each other Sophomore year. That was just the beginning though. This was all I could think about at the moment. Every time I thought of him I'd feel that familiar ache and sting in my chest so I only allow myself to think of him a little bit at a time.

By now I was walking in the water along the shore. My flip flops were in my hand and the wind was blowing my hair around gently. It was beautiful out today. The sun was beginning to set which meant that I'd been walking for a while. I always find myself getting lost in my thoughts lately. I have a lot to think about.

As I continue walking I notice that a volleyball lands a few feet away from me. I look over to the boys playing volleyball. They are all looking at me.

"Hey! Mind throwing that over?" A tan, well-built brunette shouts to me.

"Sure!" I call out and jog over to the ball. I hit the ball over to them and the boy catches it perfectly. He hits it over to one of his friends and just as I'm about to turn and continue walking, he begins jogging towards me. He slows his jog when he's a few feet away from me. I smile at him.

"Hey, you're a pretty good hitter. You play?" He asks. He's cute, really cute.

"I played a lot in gym class. But thanks." I laugh. He smiles at me.

"Do you wanna come join our game, maybe?" He asks nervously, scratching the back of his neck. I raise my eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh, that's really sweet of you but I'm just walking today. Thanks for the offer, though. Maybe another time?" I offer. He smiles and nods.

"I'd like that, a lot. I'm gonna hold you to that offer though so you have to tell me your name." He says in a teasing tone. I laugh and tuck my hair behind my ear.

"I'm Ally. What's yours?"

"Ethan. I better get back to the game. I'll be looking around for you from now on, Ally."

"I'll be around." I smile. He looks me up and down casually and winks before walking away smiling. I feel myself blush and decide to head back home.

When I get home Mike and a blonde headed woman are in the kitchen. Mike is sitting at the table with Tom discussing something about business and Mimi stands in the kitchen with my mother, helping her cook something. It smells great but I can tell they are just getting started. I look around and wonder if Austin is here.

"Hey, honey. Where were you? I tried calling your name a few times when Mimi and Mike first got here and when you didn't come down I realized you were probably out." My mom asks. She seems a little worried.

"Oh, sorry about that. I decided to take a walk on the beach. I didn't tell you cause I didn't think I'd be out for so long but I kind of lost track of time I guess." She studies my face for a moment.

"Okay, but you really should have told me. I thought we came to an agreement about this. I don't like when you leave the house without telling me. You'd do that all the time in LA and look at all the trouble you got into. Especially with Gavin and –"

"Mom!" I shout. I lower my voice a bit as Tom and Mike turn to look at me. "Don't talk about him. And I already apologized. It won't happen again, I promise. We aren't in LA anymore." I snap. I'm beyond angry at her for bringing that up, and it's doubled now that we have company over. I turn on my heel and quickly walk out of the room and storm up the stairs. I didn't miss Austin leaning against the hallway wall watching me as I did so.

When I get upstairs I slam the door. I begin pacing the room. I'm so angry at her I could just scream. I tie my long hair into a pony-tail and walk over to the corner of the room and begin my process of folding the clothes. A quiet knock sounds at the door. I figure it's my mom coming in to scold me for speaking to her like that in front of the guests.

"Come in." I mumble, so not in the mood for getting in trouble right now. I hear the door open and then close behind me. "I know what you're going to say. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that and –"

"I'm not your mom, Ally." I turn around to find Austin standing behind me with a concerned look on his face.

"Oh." I flush. "I'm sorry I was expecting her."

"Don't apologize. She wanted to come talk to you but I know how parents are so I offered to talk to you instead. I told her you probably had a bad day so she said we can eat dinner up here."

"Thank you. You're literally my hero." I sigh and continue to fold the clothes. The concerned look remains on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"Do you want the truth or the easy answer?"

"The truth."

"No, I'm not."

"Do you want to talk about it?" He looks sincere.

"Not really." I mumble while folding a pair of jeans.

"Then we won't." He replies as he sits down next to me and grabs a pair of leggings.

"What are you doing?" I question him while watching him fold the pair.

"I'm helping you. You don't have to talk but I'm still going to be here for you." He replies while looking me in the eyes. I just swallow and give him a small smile. I continue to fold the clothes again and he does the same.

"Thank you." I say quietly. I almost think he didn't hear me but he just nods and lightly says,

"Mmhm."

* * *

**So what'd you guys think? You learned a lot about Gavin this chapter. There was some foreshadowing about some trouble Ally got into back in LA. Plus there was a cute little moment between Austin and Ally. **


End file.
